1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to remote controls that are used to control various electronic devices, such as televisions, videocassette recorders (VCR), and digital video disc (DVD) players, and relates more particularly to a method and apparatus for transferring information to these remote controls.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Remote control users and cable companies are often required to upgrade or reprogram a large quantity of remote controls to enable these units to function properly in accordance with new programming requirements and assignments. Specifically, cable companies periodically need to reprogram remote controls that are issued to subscribers with new and/or updated programming information.
Due to the competitive nature of providing cable televised programming, the ability to upgrade remote controls as cheaply as possible without the need for remanufacturing each unit is imperative. Conventional methods of upgrading remote controls essentially transfer information from a primary source to each unit using wired or wireless interfaces, such as radio frequency (RF) or infrared (IR) links. However, these methods require the incorporation of costly receivers, and perhaps transmitters to provide handshaking ability and transfer validation, within each remote control unit.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for transferring information to remote controls that are relatively inexpensive, immune to errors or failures, and do not require that the remote control be remanufactured.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for transferring information to remote controls that utilizes transfer medium that may be reused to program a substantially limitless number of remote controls.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for transferring information to remote controls that do not require expensive hardware or software to either load a transfer medium used to transfer the information from a primary source to the remote control or transfer the information from the transfer medium to memory resident within the remote control.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for transferring information to remote controls that are relatively straightforward to employ by an inexperienced technician in about fifteen (15) seconds per remote control or less.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for transferring information from one remote control to another remote control that are relatively inexpensive, immune to errors or failures, and do not require that either remote control be remanufactured.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus that enable a remote control to exist in an unprogrammed or blank state and be readily initialized for operation merely by inserting a transfer medium.
A method of transferring information to at least one remote control formed in accordance with one form of the present invention, which incorporate some of the preferred features, includes the steps of storing information to be transferred in a transfer medium and inserting the transfer medium into a first remote control. The information stored in the transfer medium is input by the first remote control and stored into memory in the first remote control. The transfer medium may then be used to transfer information into additional remote controls.
A method of transferring information from a first remote control to at least one remote control formed in accordance with another form of the present invention, which incorporate some of the preferred features, includes the steps of inserting a transfer medium into the first remote control and outputting information to be transferred from the first remote control to the transfer medium. The information outputted from the first remote control is stored in the transfer medium and the transfer medium is removed from the first remote control. The transfer medium is inserted into a second remote control and the information stored in the transfer medium by the first remote control is inputted and stored into memory in the second remote control. The transfer medium may also be used to transfer information into additional remote controls.
A remote control formed in accordance with yet another form of the present invention, which incorporates some of the preferred features, includes a processor, memory, and a transfer medium port. The memory is coupled to the processor and the transfer medium port is coupled to a data signal. The processor is responsive to the data signal and the transfer medium port is adapted for receiving a transfer medium. The transfer medium is adapted for being stored with information to be transferred to the remote control and the processor inputs the information stored in the transfer medium. The processor stores the information read from the transfer medium into memory and the transfer medium may be used to program additional remote controls.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments thereof, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.